Grass Roots

This essay is selected from the work of Johns Hopkins University freshmen in the course "B'more Innovative: Studying Change Through Charm City." The course explored how ideas and innovations spread through society using case studies associated with Baltimore (e.g., Johns Hopkins Medicine, Project Love — Baltimore, The Afro Newspapers, B&O Railroad). The final assignment required students to propose an innovative project and describe how they would spread or "diffuse" it. These essays summarize key concepts from several proposals.

Robin Budish spends her days rallying support for an idea she says will make downtown Baltimore more livable — building a streetcar line along Charles Street. Budish was hired last fall as community organizer for the Baltimore Streetcar Campaign, a grass-roots group that believes a fixed rail trolley system would attract residents, boost civic pride, spur economic development and benefit tourism, retail and cultural institutions. Budish, the former executive director of Fells Point Main Street, and also a former Historic Charles Street Association executive director, has been meeting with downtown residents, business owners and other stakeholders.

It's probably unreasonable to expect the guys who brought us "Dynasty" to make a miniseries about politics and the New South that isn't lots and lots of sex and soap opera exaggeration.The only thing missing in "Grass Roots," which will begin at 9 tonight on WMAR-TV (Channel 2, is Joan Collins as as a direct descendant of Scarlett O'Hara now running for president.Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent -- who have worked together on such glitz-o-ramas as "Hotel" and "Vega$" -- are the executive producers of "Grass Roots."

Will Maryland voters see super PAC money spent here to influence the outcome of an election in 2012? If a certain congressional race gets close - say, the general election in the reshaped Sixth District - it's possible, even likely. Only two of the state's eight House seats are Republican. With the new Sixth in danger of slipping to the Democrats, some fat-cat super PAC might decide to throw money into advertising on behalf of the Republican candidate. Vice-versa if the Democrat needs an edge.

IT'S PROBABLY unreasonable to expect the guys who brought us "Dynasty" to make a miniseries about politics and the New South that isn't lots and lots of sex and soap opera exaggeration.The only thing missing in "Grass Roots," which will begin at 9 tonight on WMAR-TV (Channel 2), is Joan Collins as a direct descendant of Scarlett O'Hara now running for president.Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent -- who have worked together on such glitz-o-ramas as "Hotel" and "Vega$" -- are the executive producers of "Grass Roots."

"Grass roots" was the watch word during the November elections, but the telephone operator says Delegate Charles W. "Stokes" Kolodziejskihas since taken to the bushes.Stokes and his District 31 runningmates ran a self-styled "grass-roots" campaign last fall to beat back nearly a dozen Democratic and Republican challengers. There were Stokes signs and Stokes bumper stickers. Stokes pamphlets arrived in the mail. Stokes volunteers even reached out and touched thousands of voting someones at home and asked them to cast their ballots for Stokes and the gang.

A group billing itself as a "grass roots" coalition of consumers and businesses" launched a campaign yesterday to abolish "the monopoly that allows Bell Atlantic to control local telephone service in Maryland."

Will Maryland voters see super PAC money spent here to influence the outcome of an election in 2012? If a certain congressional race gets close - say, the general election in the reshaped Sixth District - it's possible, even likely. Only two of the state's eight House seats are Republican. With the new Sixth in danger of slipping to the Democrats, some fat-cat super PAC might decide to throw money into advertising on behalf of the Republican candidate. Vice-versa if the Democrat needs an edge.

Editor: The writer from Bel Air who recently wanted to distance the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. He disagreed with your editorial portraying the Tea Party as grass roots right and the Occupy Movement as grass roots left. He attempted to make very convincing arguments distancing the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. We then get to his last paragraph where he reverts to the extreme rights' playbook. Accusations without any attempt to provide any facts to back up the accusations.

There's irony in Sheila Dixon's parting pronouncement that "the city would continue to be 'strong' because of work on the grass-roots level and not because of 'leaders in the city'..." ("Despite scolding, Dixon remains unapologetic and silent to the end," Feb. 5). One of Ms. Dixon's final acts as mayor of Baltimore was to use her power on the Board of Estimates to guarantee approval of an agreement with a private school to occupy an acre of lower Wyman Park for the school's private campus, over the objections of Remington residents who are stepping up to bring back the recreation center that was once the lifeblood of this community.

My grass has tiny orange raised bumps on the blades. It started about the beginning of fall. It seems worst where there is more shade and the ground stays moist longer. Will it kill the grass? Numerous blades are completely covered. I fertilize a few times a year, using the recommended amount for my bluegrass. Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass are the grasses most susceptible to rust, a fungal disease. Rust disease is favored by low nitrogen fertility, but this is probably not your cause.

Editor: The writer from Bel Air who recently wanted to distance the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. He disagreed with your editorial portraying the Tea Party as grass roots right and the Occupy Movement as grass roots left. He attempted to make very convincing arguments distancing the Tea Party from the Occupy Movement. We then get to his last paragraph where he reverts to the extreme rights' playbook. Accusations without any attempt to provide any facts to back up the accusations.

Editor: A recent editorial in The Aegis expressed the opinion that the Tea Party is comprised of the "grass roots" right while the "Occupy" movement is comprised of the "grass roots" left. There seems to be an implication that these two groups are comparable in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Tea Party's central purpose is to rein in out of control government spending and excessive taxation as expressed in their TEA acronym, Taxed Enough Already.

"Few members of the Tea Party have endorsed Rand Paul's misgivings about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but a surprising number are calling for the repeal of … the 17th Amendment … that provides for the direct election of United States senators." The New York Times, May 31, 2010 A group of baseball fans, calling themselves Two Baggers — in honor of the game's alleged founder, Abner Doubleday — are calling on Major League Baseball to repeal its policy of having the public elect players to the All-Star Game.

This essay is selected from the work of Johns Hopkins University freshmen in the course "B'more Innovative: Studying Change Through Charm City." The course explored how ideas and innovations spread through society using case studies associated with Baltimore (e.g., Johns Hopkins Medicine, Project Love — Baltimore, The Afro Newspapers, B&O Railroad). The final assignment required students to propose an innovative project and describe how they would spread or "diffuse" it. These essays summarize key concepts from several proposals.

To hear top elected officials talk, you'd think the prospects for legalizing same-sex marriages in Maryland anytime soon were as remote as a return to the moon. But that's not what the state's residents are saying. A new poll by The Washington Post has found that support for gay marriage is growing among registered voters in the state, making the issue one that the General Assembly almost inevitably will have to address during its next four-year term. The poll, conducted May 3-6, found that registered voters favored legalizing same-sex marriages 48 percent to 43 percent.

Sentencing delayed in slaying case Sentencing for a Blood gang member who pleaded guilty to his role in the shooting death of an Edgewood cab driver in 2004 was postponed last week after the victim's family, expected to deliver an impact statement, failed to show. Darrell Levon Miller, 21, entered into a plea agreement last fall in exchange for testimony against 18-year-old Wayne Lavon Bond Jr., who police said was the gunman in the killing of Derald Howard Guess. Miller's sentencing was rescheduled for June 7. Holiday to affect senior centers, buses All Harford County senior centers will be closed tomorrow in observance of Memorial Day. Centers will reopen Tuesday.

Editor: A recent editorial in The Aegis expressed the opinion that the Tea Party is comprised of the "grass roots" right while the "Occupy" movement is comprised of the "grass roots" left. There seems to be an implication that these two groups are comparable in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Tea Party's central purpose is to rein in out of control government spending and excessive taxation as expressed in their TEA acronym, Taxed Enough Already.

A grass-roots, faith-based Howard County coalition is mobilizing supporters for a door-knocking campaign to find more people who are eligible for health care under the county's Healthy Howard plan. The group, called People Acting Together in Howard, or PATH, has also won a promise from County Executive Ken Ulman to push for lower-interest borrowing rates for consumers by moving public monies out of banks that charge high rates. Maryland's ceiling for credit card interest is 24 percent, Ulman said, but the group said banks often raise interest to 30 percent, even on people who have never been late with a payment.

There's irony in Sheila Dixon's parting pronouncement that "the city would continue to be 'strong' because of work on the grass-roots level and not because of 'leaders in the city'..." ("Despite scolding, Dixon remains unapologetic and silent to the end," Feb. 5). One of Ms. Dixon's final acts as mayor of Baltimore was to use her power on the Board of Estimates to guarantee approval of an agreement with a private school to occupy an acre of lower Wyman Park for the school's private campus, over the objections of Remington residents who are stepping up to bring back the recreation center that was once the lifeblood of this community.